My Future
by Akirina
Summary: Sequel to My Life. A little series of chapters that shows Mikan adapting to being the new ESP.
1. Prologue

Akirina: Hey, I'm back again! Here's the sequel! Enjoy!

Prologue

The students within Alice Academy were buzzing excitedly. It had been five years since the original Principal for the Elementary School had suddenly disappeared, leaving Narumi as replacement Principal until the new Principal came of age.

"Who do you think the new Principal will be?"

"I bet he'll just have graduated! I heard that…"

"Why do they have to introduce a new Principal? Narumi is fine enough…"

The students speculated and gossiped about the graduated students and the identity of their new Principal. Everyone was looking forward to the ceremony that would take place in the evening at the Elementary School.

It was well-known that there could only be a couple of candidates for the position of the Principal; they had to have high scores in their graduation examinations. The first in place was someone called Sakura Mikan, a girl. No one considered her as there was no way a girl could be a principal. The next was a boy, Hyuuga Natsume. He was engaged to Mikan and they were planning to marry next year. Most of the students were placing their bets on him. Natsume was cool, although everyone like Mikan.

Next up was Mikan's best friend, Hotaru. The students also thought that she could make it as a principal. Behind her was Luca, Natsume's best friend. He was dismissed as soon as the thought came up. Luca had made it very clear that he would only be a teacher, or maybe a zookeeper.

Time passed slowly, much to the students' frustration. They wanted to know who would take on the position of the Elementary School Principal (ESP). Finally, evening came and everyone crowded eagerly in the Elementary School.

And so it was a surprise when the new ESP was introduced by Narumi…

"And I'd like to introduce the new Elementary School Principal to everyone. Welcome, Mikan Sakura, the new Elementary School Principal!"


	2. Chapter 1

Akirina: This is probably a little earlier than I'd actually intended, but... enjoy!

Chapter 1

Peace descended upon the Alice Academy after the announcement of the new Elementary School Principal. Everyone was content with the arrangement and the students were satisfied that their principal was not some power-hungry maniac.

That aside, the only quirk the elementary students found about the arrangement was that their prinicipal was an old lady. That was strange, since Sakura Mikan was supposed to be a youthful, vibrant brunette. So where had this old lady popped up from? Curious, the students went to Narumi, their ex-ESP.

"Hey, Naru-sensei." One of the young students asked as Narumi danced into class. "Why is our principal an old lady? I thought she was a graduate…"

"Who?" Narumi blinked in confusion before he realized what the students were talking about. Smirking on the inside, he whispered. "Well, this is a secret, you know…"

That got the attention of the students.

**MFMFMFMFMF**

"Nonsense!" the student scoffed. "How can that be possible?"

"Narumi-sensei said so!" the other retorted. "He said that the ESP is actually an old lady in disguise!"

"EH~" The special abilities class stared at him for a moment before they burst into loud whispers. And so, the rumor spreaded from the Elementary Division to the Middle School Division and to the High School Division… until it reached the ears of a certain _someone__…__._

"What?" Mikan burst out, staring at her friend, Hotaru as she announced the rumor to her. "And who started it?" she asked dangerously, her eyes glinting. Hotaru smirked.

"You've got your own intelligence service, Mikan. Go find out about it yourself." Hotaru replied as she nodded to Bear, who was sitting with Mikan on her table. "I figure that you will be taking Bear along?"

"Yes." Mikan replied with a nod. "That person needs a good lesson on how not to insult people behind their backs… or spread rumors."

Hotaru sniggered. "Well, I'm coming along. I'd do well with the blackmail material…"

"Really, Hotaru?" Mikan rolled her eyes. "You're still doing blackmail?"

"I do torture to my enemies. But this one isn't an enemy…" Hotaru's grin got wider. "And it'd be amusing to watch."

"Up to you." Mikan shrugged.

"You'd probably regret finding the person, after all." Hotaru told her in amusement. "I know you well enough."

"Whatever, Hotaru!" Mikan rolled her eyes again and leapt off the table, heading towards the door of the room with Bear trotting beside her.

"Hey, Sakura, help me to look after the room, alright?" Mikan addressed her clone that was melting out from the shadows of the room. Sakura nodded and returned to the desk, watching as Mikan disappeared out of the room.

**MFMFMFMF**

It was lunch time for the Elementary School students and most of them were playing in their respective abilities classrooms while some were taking an afternoon nap. Then, much to the student's delight, their favourite senior appeared.

No one knew her name, except that she was called Yuka by those who knew her, who happened to be some graduates and teachers. Yuka had explained that this was her first year at the Academy and it was natural for her to have no friends yet. Besides that, she was supposed to have graduated like the rest, but since she entered late, they were giving her a chance at living in the Academy until she could control her Alice.

"Yuka-san!" the students rushed up to the black-haired, brown-eyed girl (she's disguised) as soon as she appeared in the doorway to the Special Abilities Classroom. "You're back!"

Yuka smiled indulgently. "Of course I am." She told them. "Where else would I be? I wouldn't just disappear without saying goodbye or anything of the sort!"

"Yeah!" another child piped up, glaring at the one who spoke. "Yuka-san wouldn't just abandon us here!"

The one who had spoke huffed. "But with all of our senpais leaving without saying goodbye, how can you expect us to trust them?"

"At least Yuka-san comes over every week!" another rebutted. "Most of them don't even come over anymore!"

"And how can we even trust Yuka-san to keep her promise?"

Yuka could only blink as an argument erupted amongst the children. The situation seemed to get worse as the children started to use their Alices on each other. Yuka continued to sit, shocked at how the situation had worsened before she shook her head and stood up. It seemed as if she would have to do something about this… She thought quickly—what Alice could she use to stop the children without arousing any suspicion from them?

She needed them to stop immediately… Well, Yuka thought, if she used that Alice, it might just work…

Closing her eyes, Yuka made sure she had a proper grasp on the Alice before she activated it and turned it to its maximum, shouting, "_**STOP!**_"

The children all froze where they were, some falling over, as they could not balance themselves. They found themselves unable to use their Alices, much less get free from their 'invisible bonds'.

"What's going on here!" The door to the Special Abilities classroom slammed open as a silver-haired and purple-eyed woman entered. Shizuka Azumi, she was the teacher in charge of the Special Abilities class, even though she wasn't someone whose Alice would be counted as a Special Ability. Shizuka took one look at the state of the Special Abilities class before she turned to face the only student not affected by the Alice used.

"What did you do?" Shizuka demanded. She was sure that she had never seen this student before! So why…

"Ah, Shizuka," the brunette turned to smile pleasantly at her. "I'm Yuka."

_Yuka?_

"I was told to come to the Special Abilities class, but because I have health issues due to my Alice usage…" the girl, Yuka, raised her hand to her chin. "And my peers didn't really tell me that it was necessary to come for our classes with our juniors. They don't really have any interest in mixing with the younger students."

"I was not told of any transfer student or new student, though…" Shizuka frowned. Surely _someone_would have notified her!

"Oh," Yuka grinned in embarrassment. "That's because the paperwork is going slowly, as what the Elementary School Principal told me. She told me to tell you this: Not everyone is as they seem."

Shizuka froze, staring at Yuka for a moment before she smiled. "Ah, I see." Shizuka nodded. "Well, you can tell the principal that I received her message the next time you see her."

"Gladly." Yuka inclined her head in respect.

"Now," Shizuka gestured to their surroundings. "Would you mind?"

Yuka flushed a little in embarrassment before she used the Voice Pheromone Alice to release the children from their positions. They collapsed to the ground, surprised and shaken by what had happened.

"Yuka-san…?" one of the students turned to her shakily. "What did you do…? That was the Voice Pheromone Alice, wasn't it? Why would someone with the Voice Pheromone be in Special Abilities? You should be in…"

"Somatic Abilities, that's right." Yuka nodded. "But the Alice I was discovered under was not the Voice Pheromone, so they sorted me to Special Abilities before they found out that I had the Voice Pheromone Alice."

"Two Alices?" her juniors gasped. Having an Alice was uncommon enough, but having two and above was really rare! The fact that their senior had two Alices aroused the curiosity of the students. Soon, they were crowded around Yuka, asking her about her Alice, having forgotten what had happened about earlier before.

"I'm not telling you what my Alice is just yet!" Yuka winked at them before she switched topics. "Besides, I heard that Narumi-sensei had spread quite an interesting rumor…"

"That's right!"

"He said that the Elementary School Principal was an old lady!"

"Well, it's true that we've never even seen this Sakura Mikan before…" a student pondered. "I heard Tsubasa-sensei saying that she has the Alice that can change her features and she's been using that ever since she entered middle school, so no one knows what she really looks like now."

"Ah… Did they say so…" Yuka laughed menacingly.

Shizuka laughed nervously from where she was sitting. She knew why Mikan had come to the Elementary Division now. Narumi was definitely going to be in trouble now, despite the fact that he was her father figure.

**MFMFMFMFMF**

"Mikan," Shizuka approached her still-disguised friend as the lesson ended. "You're planning to get revenge, aren't you?"

Yuka turned around, grinning madly as her face morphed back to the more familiar features of Sakura Mikan. "Yup!" Mikan nodded happily. "I'll be the new student in his class tomorrow. I'm going to embarrass him really badly!"

Shizuka smiled at her exuberance before she dropped her smile. "It isn't just about getting revenge, is it? You've read the report from Yuki…?"

"Of course!" Mikan nodded solemnly. "This is another reason why I'm joining in with the Elementary students. They'll be going on a trip to the nearby resorts that we have for students and Yuki said that they'd launch an attack then. So I will be with the children to protect them."

Shizuka sighed. "You could always cancel the trip…"

"And disappoint the kids? You know I can't do that, Shizuka. Their seniors are already distancing themselves from the younger ones… If I disappoint them again, their spirits would sink lower and I can't bear to see them sad… Besides, it's time we remind the government that they do not have any control over people with Alices. They seem to be forgetting that we are not so different from them."

Shizuka dipped her head in acknowledgment. "If you wish it to be so, Mikan."

**MFMFMFMFMFMF**

"Students are to get on the bus in an orderly manner!"

"Aren't you excited, Aria?" a pink haired girl giggled to the new student of class 3A. "This is your first time to a beach resort, is it?"

"Not really," Aria replied loftily, aiming her gaze out of the bus window, blue eyes calmly observing everything that was taking place. They were not required to pack any luggage since there were clothes for them at the beach resort. It was quite convenient for them, in Aria's opinion.

"Kya~!"

The sounds of girls squealing startled Aria from her thoughts. She sighed, pushing her spectacles up her nose as she turned to look at the source of the commotion. Standing in the aisle of their seats was a man with raven-black hair and crimson eyes.

"It's Hyuuga Natsume!" Aria's companion gasped in awe. "I heard he's engaged to Mikan Sakura, our Elementary School Principal!"

Huh. Gossip spread fast, Aria thought sarcastically to herself. "What's he doing here?" she asked bluntly.

The girl turned to her, face strangely pale. "Aria-chan! That was really rude!"

Aria scoffed. "I don't care. And so? What's he doing here?"

She spluttered for a moment before an affronted expression covered her face and she turned away with a huff. "I'm not going to seat beside such a rude person!" she announced loudly before she flounced off to seat next to another classmate.

Most likely to spread more rumors, Aria thought to herself as she turned her attention out of the window again. The classmates surrounding her had fallen silent when the girl said that out loud and they were starting to murmur among themselves now. Aria ignored them in favor for the passing scenery.

The seat shifted as someone settled next to her and a hush fell over the students in the bus. Aria glanced at the person who had casually settled beside her and was slightly surprised to note that Hyuuga Natsume was the one who had taken the seat beside her. He had closed his eyes, as if taking a nap.

She turned away again, preferring the scenery than to looking at him. She never noticed that the bus ride was silent the whole way to the beach resort…

**MFMFMFMFMFMF**

"Reid-san!"

Aria turned around and a palm whipped her face hard. Aria blinked at the pain that quickly numbed her cheek, holding a hand up to the red mark that was forming on her skin now. She blinked up at her attacker, the pink haired girl who was sitting next to her just now. Aria had forgotten her name and decided to name her Lulu just for convenience's sake.

"How dare you snatch Natsume-sama from us!" Lulu screeched and her minions nodded eagerly behind her, spurring the girl with their encouragement and support.

"I didn't snatch him." Aria stated calmly. "He probably had sense not to seat next to such brainless twits as you."

The girls stared at Aria in shock at her blatant insult and rudeness. "Now, if you would excuse me." Aria turned and made to leave, but was stopped by Lulu, whose eyes were darkened with anger.

"How dare you!" She screamed loudly. "You'll pay for this!"

Lulu made to slap Aria again, but as she was about to land the blow on Aria's face, a hand shot out and grasped her wrist tightly. Gasps were heard from Lulu's minions as they saw who had come to Aria's rescue.

Lulu turned back to see the crimson eyes she had admired glaring at her. "Natsume-sama!" Lulu whispered in shock as Natsume removed her grasp from Aria.

"What is going on here?" Natsume asked coldly as he assessed the girls before him.

"We-we-" the girls were struck speechless, not daring to answer his question.

"Were you planning to attack this girl because she sat beside me?" Natsume demanded.

"She insulted you!" Lulu protested immediately. "We were just-"

"Carrying out justice? If my hearing did not fail me, she did not insult me. She was just curious in what I was doing on the bus. If her disinterest in me meant insult to me, then I should be the one who should be insulted, not you." Natsume cut her off coldly. Their silence served enough as a reply to him.

"Be gone," he said, "I'll be telling Narumi about this."

The girls whirled off, all sobbing at the cruel treatment Natsume had graced them with. Natsume waited until they were all out of sight before he turned to the girl he had saved.

"Are you alright?" Natsume gently touched the red mark blossoming on Aria's cheek. Aria jerked her face away, brow furrowed.

"Quite so," Aria replied curtly. "Thank you for your assistance back there."

"Imai wants me to tell you that your opinion was very much appreciated." Natsume settled back on his heels. "She sends you her best and she wants me to tell you that she misses you."

Aria nodded. "Send my best back to her." She said stiffly and turned to leave, but paused. "And tell her that I wish I could take my teddy bear along. If it is convenient, could you ask her to send my favourite teddy here? I don't really feel safe with the vultures circling around me. They feel like they are about to attack whenever I recall my past."

Natsume was silent for a moment before he murmured. "Your message is received. I shall notify her. Expect the response by tomorrow."

"I shall." Aria said. "Thank you."


	3. Chapter 2

**Akirina: Well, another chapter done! I hope my readers will enjoy this! Any reviews...? I'd like to know what you all want for the next event or so...**

Chapter 2

Aria tugged her bed sheets down as she glanced around the room, checking to make sure that she had not left anything behind. Of course, they weren't required to bring personal belongings when they came on this trip, but Aria had used her Alice to invent some things during her stay.

The five-day stay at the beach resort had proved to be a challenge for Aria's temper. The children had often singled her out when there were no teachers around and they taunted her. It was a good thing that Aria was good at controlling her temper, courtesy of having been baited by others when she was younger.

"Aria-chan," someone knocked at her door. "It's time to go."

"Yes, sensei," Aria replied as she headed over to the door, checking the small bag hanging at her waist. She pulled the door open to see her teacher, Narumi standing in the doorway. All the children had headed to the bus already, so it was only Narumi and she who were left in the hotel.

"Hey, Aria-chan," Narumi smiled at her, "What do you think of Japan?"

"Huh?" Aria stared uncomprehendingly at him before she understood what he was talking about. "You're asking me that? I haven't even ventured anywhere further from the Academy, or from this resort."

Narumi laughed in embarrassment. "Ah, I'd forgotten about that. Well, do you know that if you get the first place in the examinations, you'll get the chance to return to your family for a week? Of course, that's changed since Mikan-chan became the principal and now those in second and third place can return as well."

"Mikan-chan?" Aria feigned interest, although she was not really interested in what Narumi was talking about. "You know the principal?"

"Oh yes," Narumi nodded. "I taught her when she was a student."

"Really?" Aria drawled. "But I heard you telling the others that she was an old woman. How could you have taught her if she was an old woman?"

Narumi floundered for a moment, caught in his lie. "Ah… Well…"

"You were lying, weren't you, Narumi-sensei?" Aria asked accusingly. "It wasn't an old lady in disguise, but a graduate in disguise. It was probably just a joke that our principal was playing on us."

Narumi laughed nervously. "Well, you caught me." He admitted guiltily. "But I can't have you telling anyone else about this, Aria-chan!"

"If you're thinking of using your Alice, sensei, I'll have to tell you that it won't work on me." Aria waved his attempts off.

"What… How?"

Aria remained silent as she resumed her walk to the bus. For a moment, it seemed as if she was just going to leave Narumi standing where he was without a reply, but she spoke suddenly. "I have an Alice that works against your Alice, sensei."

_Works__against?_Narumi couldn't think of any Alice that could work against his, except for one… Realization struck him like a lightning bolt.

"No… it can't be…" he gasped, staring after Aria with a thunderstruck expression.

"All I have to say, sensei, is to be careful. It seems as if the weather isn't so good after all." Aria turned her face towards the sky. "It seems as if that my message will not reach Imai in time."

"But…"

"Narumi-sensei," Aria turned back to her teacher. "Listen to me. We'll have to be careful. Very careful. The vultures are already closing in. You need to be on your guard."

"And it was inevitable, after all." Natsume added as he joined in the conversation, approaching the two from behind Aria. "At least we have a plan now."

"More or less, I suppose." Aria smirked. "Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed your stay at the resorts, Narumi-sensei?"

Narumi blinked before he figured out Aria's hidden message. He gaped at Aria and spluttered, "You-you were the one who pulled the strings on… on _that?_"

Aria laughed, amusement twinkling in her eyes. "Payback," she replied. "You started it first, after all."

"Well, that was…"

"No excuses, sensei." Aria cut him off. "We should be going. The rain's coming soon." She nodded at Natsume as she passed him, climbing into the bus.

"This isn't a dream, is it?" Narumi murmured, pressing a hand to his forehead. Natsume observed him silently.

"She's grown up too fast."

**MFMFMFMFMF**

Aria fiddled with the ring that held a fiery red stone in its silver band as she observed the surroundings of the area that they were passing through. The highway was almost desolate and cars sped past them from time to time.

"Did Natsume-kun give that to you?" Narumi asked from his position beside her. She had purposely taken the seat in front, leaving Natsume to seat with the children.

"Yes. Just last month." Aria replied.

"It's an Alice stone, isn't it?"

"Yes, sensei," Aria sighed as she reached up to grasp the necklace hanging around her neck. Her eyes unfocused for a moment before she muttered, "They're coming."

"That quickly?" Narumi whispered, surprised. It was only half an hour since they left the resorts. He had not expected the attack to be launched so suddenly. There had been some mentioning of the government meddling in the affairs of the Academy, but they had never really taken it so seriously and Mikan had taken up the task of looking into it, as well as dealing with the government officials.

"They are overestimating themselves. Imai will be here with the reinforcements. But I'm not so sure that we can hold on until then." Aria replied. "They have come to capture the children."

"You've never mentioned this in front of everyone, Aria-chan," Narumi stumbled on the name. "But why are they after the children? Why now when they had the opportunity to control the children?"

"Sensei," Aria sighed, "What can I say? They're frightened. They think that we're going to overthrow them. They don't want to be seen as inferior to us. And they're curious…"

"I heard you talking about experiments." Narumi pressed on. "Was that true? Are they experimenting on the children?"

"…Yes."

"That's impossible!" Narumi whispered furiously. "Why hasn't anyone stopped them?"

"We don't have evidence, sensei. This is politics, it's not so easy to maneuver when someone wants to take over by force. They'll probably accuse us of something anyway." Aria dropped her hand from her necklace and set her chin on the back of her hand. "Besides, they've already blocked off our exits."

"What? They've surrounded-"

"Most unfortunately, yes." Aria threw her thick blonde braid over her shoulder. "Sensei, protect the children. There will be a forest somewhere ahead of us. I want you to take the children and guide them into it. Get them to climb the trees and protect themselves. There should be some children with the Flying Alice. Get them to help the others up the trees. Stop the soldiers from capturing them with the children's Alices. You'll be able to do something about the situation." She said.

"But…"

"There's no time. They're already here. Get ready." Aria narrowed her eyes at the approaching entourage of cars. "There are about twenty soldiers."

Narumi glanced at her uncertainly before he stood up to get the children's attention and tell them about their current predicament.

Aria slunk off her seat and made her way to the entrance door of the bus, glancing behind her and catching Natsume's glance. He nodded at her once before he made stood up to get to the exit door of the bus amidst the confusion that was now taking place amongst the children.

Aria kept an eye on the approaching cars and turned to the bus driver. "Use your maximum speed and drive the bus into the forest."

The bus driver, already knowing who she was, nodded and put his foot down on the accelerator. They sped past the surprised soldiers, heading straight. There was a bend in the road and the bus driver made to turn, but Aria shouted, "Keep going straight!"

They crashed, the impact throwing everyone forward against their seatbelts. Aria and Natsume had to grab on to a support nearby to keep themselves from flying out of the bus.

"Hurry! Get them out!" Aria shouted to Narumi before turning to instruct the bus driver to look after the children (he had an Alice too).

Natsume was gone when she turned around to check the progress of Narumi and the children. She could spot the dark figures speeding towards them. The soldiers were nearing. And she could sense Natsume heading out to meet them, using the Alices that had been given to him to hinder the soldiers until the children could get to safety.

"Natsume!" Aria shouted to the fighting figure as she got off-board. "Narumi has gotten them into the forest!"

She knew that Natsume would not reply to her in any way because he was busy fighting, so she turned to set up the traps quickly. She had no time to make any preparations, so most of the traps were set by robots that she had invented under Hotaru's guidance. She pulled them out of the pouch she had taken with her and activated them quickly. She would have to move quickly before she carried out her actual plan.

"There's a girl over there! Get her!"

She was spotted. Aria spun around to see Natsume fighting even more desperately against the soldiers. Worry gripped at her. Natsume's condition wasn't very good, even if it had been years since he had last since used his Alice. She had stolen it out of his body, but even so, the years he had spent using and over-using his Alice had left some scars that could not be healed on his body. And it made it so that Natsume could not fight for a long time.

"Natsume! Don't worry too much!" Aria ran towards him. "Don't overstress your body!"

Natsume frowned at her before he returned to using his Alices. Aria sighed. She knew that he was unhappy about the plan that she had thought up. He didn't want her to leave and he wasn't going to give her up to the men.

"Enough, Natsume." Aria teleported to his side and used the Sleeping Alice to make him fall asleep. The soldiers were closing in on them now, cautiously keeping their guns trained on them. "If you disapprove this much, then I suppose it's alright if you come along…" she whispered. A small piercing pain shot from her arm and Aria collapsed, knowing that a tranquilizer dart had hit her…

**MFMFMFMFMF**

Aria blinked.

She was in a dark, gloomy room that seemed like a dungeon. It was cold, Aria noted as she shivered. Her clothes were soaked too. Looking around, she noted that Natsume was in the same room as her and he was still unconscious.

_I__need__to__check__out__the__state__of__this__place__… __I__have__to__find__the__girls__and__plan__some__sort__of__escape__plan__…_ Aria thought as she got up to examine the lock of their prison. It seemed quite easy to picklock, even though she didn't really know how to use the skill. She'd ask Natsume to do something about the door when he woke up.

Until then… she would do some scouting from inside their cell. She had to be careful, though. There was no knowing what the government had found out from their experiments on the girls. There was the possibility that they had found some way to detect the usage of Alices.

Grasping her necklace, Aria cautiously wielded one of the Alices to observe their surroundings. She felt some resistance against the usage of the Alice, but she simply waved it aside and set to gathering the information that she could find out about the place they were in…

**MFMFMFMFMF**

"…sume… atsume…Natsume!"

Natsume opened his eyes, squinting for a moment before his eyes adjusted to the darkness of their prison. Aria hovered above him, a rather anxious expression on her face as she stared down at him. Why were they in this room…? Oh, right, Aria had done something to make him fall unconscious.

"Are you feeling alright?" Aria asked as Natsume sat up, holding a hand as dizziness struck him.

Natsume took a few deep breathes before he replied, "After this, we're going to have a talk about what happened, Mikan."

Aria grinned and sat back on her heels. "I'll take you on any time!" she replied. "Anyway, we've got to get out of this place. Can you picklock the door?"

"Just how long have you been awake?" Natsume asked suspiciously as he got up to fumble with the lock. He took out a paper clip and straightened it before inserting it into the lock and jingling it around.

"Hm… I'm not sure. Maybe around two hours or so?" Aria contemplated. "I took a nap after I devised the plan…"

"You didn't wake me up?" Natsume's whisper was furious. "They could have come by to carry you off!"

"I knew that they wouldn't come by. It's one of the Alices I have, Natsume." Aria told him reassuringly.

"Even so, it was too risky, Mikan." Natsume grumbled as the door clicked and swung open silently. "Are you sure we won't be caught?"

"I disabled the cameras and I scouted the general area the children should be in. Of course, there are a few adults with them." Aria replied. "It's a good thing that they haven't found a way to force the children to use their Alices yet."

Natsume remained silent as Aria led the way to the lab where she claimed that the people with Alices were being kept. Along the way, she briefed Natsume on the plan that she had thought up.

"I'm going to use one of my Alices to teleport them to the beach resort. You'll be going with them, Natsume. I'll stay behind and wreak some havoc in their government before I get down to business." Aria told him.

"You can't-" Natsume protested, but Aria had already prepared herself for this.

"I have Shiro Neko." Aria smiled sweetly at him as she brought the white cat mask up in front of her. "Although it has been near ten years since they last heard of this, I'm sure that the government has not forgotten the trouble that Shiro Neko and Kuro Neko bought to them."

Natsume had no choice but to give in.

**MFMFMFMFMFMF**

"Yuka-san!"

The aforementioned brunette spun around to see the students of the Special Ability class sprinting towards her.

"Yuka-san," one of them—Sara, Yuka remembered—eagerly bounced in front of her, "Did you hear? About the government?"

"Oh, I heard about it. The Elementary School Principal was with you, right?" Yuka smiled gently, entertaining the children by swinging them up into her arms.

"Yeah! She was disguised as Aria Reid," another babbled. "But the real Aria Reid came to class today."

"It was amazing, Yuka-san!" a girl from 3B said, admiration shining in her eyes. "She saved all of us and she freed the others who were captured by the government too!"

"Speaking of which, what happened to them?" a boy from her class wondered. "We heard that they were rescued, but we don't know how they're doing…"

"Ah, about that," Yuka cut in gently, "I heard that they are recuperating under Doctor Imai's care. They'll be cured of all injuries soon. Some of the children will join our academy while the adults will be invited to stay at the academy for a while. It really depends on them, though. They have the choice to join. If they reject, we'll just erase their memories."

"So we'll have new classmates?"

"Possibly." Yuka replied. "But I heard that most of them want to join, out of gratitude to the Elementary School Principal who risked so much to rescue them."

"That's awesome!"

The children burst out into excited chatter as they eagerly discussed on how they should welcome their new classmates.

"Mikan!"

Yuka cursed lightly under her breath as she turned to see Narumi running towards her. Of all the times… Why now? He was going to destroy her cover with the children!

"Mikan…?" the call had distracted the children from their discussion. "Mikan Sakura? The Elementary School Principal? Where is she?"

"Ah…" Yuka slapped a hand to her forehead as Narumi ran towards her, all the while shouting her real name.

"Mikan, they're going to start the documenting process soon. The High School Principal wanted you to go over immediately…" Narumi panted as he leaned against a tree. Then he looked up and happened to notice the company that Mikan was with.

"Narumi-sensei, I thought that you said that the Elementary School Principal was an old lady in disguise?" one of them asked accusingly.

"He was lying." Mikan told them as Narumi spluttered, trying to come up with an explanation. "If you _pressurize_him well enough, he'll tell you the truth." She dusted her skirt and started to walk off. "Have fun, Narumi-sensei!" she called back over the shoulder.

It probably a good thing that she had cameras all over the school, Mikan thought to herself as she activated the cameras in that region. Plus, she had put a nullification over Narumi, so he would be at the mercy of the children…

I look forward to developing those pictures, Mikan thought with an evil chuckle. Hotaru would be able to get some more blackmail material now.


	4. Chapter 3

**Akirina: I'm afraid this chapter is not so up to standard... Mikan will definitely be a little more than Out of Character (OOC)...**

Chapter 3

Mikan giggled as she flipped through the photos that she had captured of Narumi's demise. Her nullification had lasted for a good half-hour—enough time for the children to drag Narumi to the Elementary Division and rouse their fellow friends. By the time all of them were done with Narumi, he resembled a jumble of feathers, robot parts, pastries… He was like a representation of the four ability classes.

Suddenly, the photos were plucked out of her hands without any warning. "So this is the new blackmail, huh?" a familiar voice remarked from behind her.

"Hotaru!" Mikan cried, surprised. "I thought you were out negotiating with the government?"

"I only needed half an hour to convince them of their foolishness." Hotaru replied, settling down in the secretary's chair. "The fools actually thought that they could threaten us to sign the negotiations that _they_had done. Well, I taught them a lesson about threatening me." Hotaru chuckled coldly.

"Ha… I see that you have not changed from our childhood. Still so cruel towards the people you dislike, huh…" Mikan chuckled in amusement. "And so? What are you doing here? I thought you said you were going out with Luca to check on your parents?"

Hotaru snorted. "Yes, I was planning on going with him. But Hyuuga suddenly had something on, so they left me here instead."

"What?" Mikan exclaimed. "How can they be so cruel? And I thought that Luca would not deem anything else as more important than you."

Hotaru sighed melodramatically as she picked up a sheaf of papers. "Apparently, it seems that my fiancé is up to something. But I shall not bother about that for the moment. Anyway, Mikan, what's this I hear about an attack? I've just been gone for four days and when I come back, I hear rumors about the ESP appearing…"

"Ah, that," Mikan laughed as she swiveled around in her chair. "Well, Hotaru, it seems that the government was not very truthful. I did tell you they were going to attack us…"

"True, you did say that," Hotaru acknowledged. "But that didn't mean that you had to appear in front of the children. And according to Narumi, in a disguise! Speaking of which, what happened to him? I see that you must have some hand in his current appearance…"

"Remember the rumor that he started about me?" Mikan stood up from her chair and crossed over to the window, looking down on the grounds. "Well, it backfired on him. I have the tape, if you want to watch it…"

"It's an offer too irresistible to let up on." Hotaru declared. "But I'll see it later. I trust that you have been doing your paperwork? I still have some more papers for you to look through from the government negotiation."

"Bring them over." Mikan gestured to her table before turning back to the window. "Hotaru, get ready for your next meeting with the government. It wouldn't be so easy to intimidate them like you did today."

Hotaru narrowed her eyes at Mikan. "Don't tell me you're using the Foresight Alice…"

Mikan yawned, stretching her limbs as a wave of lethargy swept over her. "You know that it would be beneficial for us to know the future every once in a while, Hotaru," she replied. "Besides, that's how I found out about the attack, too."

"I thought you told me that it was from an internal source in the government?" Hotaru asked, her suspicions confirmed. She knew that Mikan should limit the use of her Alices because it would exhaust her body easily and Mikan knew that, too.

"Ah," Mikan yawned again. "My cover's gone." She waved her hand at Hotaru nonchalantly before she turned to return to her paperwork. Hotaru took that as a signal for her to leave the room. As she shut the door behind her quietly, Hotaru leaned on the wall beside the doors, deep in thought.

It had been six years since Mikan decided to take up the position as the Elementary School Principal. However, the Principals from the Middle School and High School both agreed that Mikan would ascend only when she was twenty and graduated from the High School. Mikan had not been pleased by the decision. She had been very eager to take up her duties, full of enthusiasm to prove that her mother's sacrifice had not been in vain. After all, this was the goal that they had worked hard for.

But as the years passed, Mikan gradually changed. She no longer found any delight in relaxing, overworking herself to make sure that the Academy was safe. Hard work was good, but too much of it was not good and Mikan was definitely not in a good state. Natsume was trying to work out something and he had proposed to her, hoping that it would help to alleviate some of her burden. But it didn't seem to be working and Natsume had left, although he did help out Mikan. He loved her, but he couldn't be near her anymore…

The last Hotaru had heard of Natsume was that he was working with Luca at the pet store he had in the Central Town. Mikan probably knew of it, but Hotaru wasn't sure. She hadn't approached the matter since Mikan had shown no interest.

Hotaru really didn't know what to do anymore.

Then, just last year, the problem with the government started up. They had demanded that the Academy to give up its status as an independent sector and come under the government sector. However, knowing the government, they probably wanted to use the students as their secret weapon and wage war against the other countries. After all, students with Alice were _very_hard to take down.

When the government grew impatient with the Academy's refusal, they had launched several attacks, but to their surprise, their missiles were nullified. Mikan had taken charge of the situation and threatened them that she would report this to the media if they stopped harassing the Academy and sign an agreement to keep away from the Academy.

The government had reluctantly agreed, but they had schemed, thinking that the representative of Mikan Sakura would be some weak-willed secretary and that they could have an advantage over her. Unfortunately, that was not the case, as Hotaru had proved earlier to them.

But coming back from that, Hotaru was worried about Mikan. She was overtaxing her body and it was clear that the strain was too much for her. She had lost weight and she looked pale. Hotaru had learnt that Mikan had not been eating much and that was another cause of concern. After using so much Alice, it would be normal for Mikan to eat a lot—the equivalent of three people, in fact—as she had spent a lot of energy using her copied Alices. However, that was not the case now.

Mikan… had lost sight of everything important in her life. That was what Hotaru had concluded. Yes, she did have her moments of fun, but that was all that was to her life. Nothing more, nothing less. Mikan wasn't really living, she was living an illusion of her life. And the only reason this was happening was because—

Yuka had died for their goal.

**MFMFMFMFMFMF**

"Luca!" Hotaru called as she entered the pet shop. The birds thrilled and sang when they saw her, no doubt recognizing her. Hotaru seriously regretted not installing some of her merchandise in here. Luca had forbidden it because he did not want his girlfriend (in the beginning) to get any embarrassing pictures of him. She should have threatened him or told him it was for his safety too, but she did not want to pressurize Luca. She trusted Luca, after all.

"Hey, Robot-Girl." A familiar voice greeted her. Hotaru turned to see Hyuuga Natsume standing in the doorway to the storeroom at the back of the shop. He hadn't changed; his black hair as black as a raven's wing and his crimson eyes staring at her curiously.

"Fire-Boy," Hotaru returned coolly. "Where's Luca? I need to talk to him about something."

"Oh?" Natsume raised an eyebrow. "Is it about _her_again?"

Hotaru let out a hard sigh. Natsume had grown a little distant from everyone ever since Mikan had engrossed herself in work. Hotaru really didn't know what to do with the two of them.

Sometimes Hotaru regretted not having the power to help out the couple. But Mikan had never confided in her after Yuka died, subtly distancing herself from everyone. Hotaru knew better than to probe, because she knew that you have to be honest in a relationship in order for it to work out. Mikan was probably at fault there, but Hotaru had made the mistake of not comforting her friend. Mikan had just covered it up too well.

"Maybe."

"Huh," Natsume turned away. "Well, you can find Luca in the store beside this one's. He went to check out the kittens next door."

Typical. Hotaru should have known that Luca would go around looking out for the animals. He had taken on the profession of a vet, but he also had a pet shop to give the animals a new home to stay in. It would not do well for him to have too many animals crowding at his place, after all. And he was going to be married to Hotaru, who liked animals to a certain extent until they did something to provoke her. But she would not stand for their house becoming a refuge area for animals. Besides, there were other people out there who loved animals as much as Luca did and they should be given an opportunity to look after the animals as well.

Well, that had been what she had pointed out to Luca the last time he had gotten angry of her because of her refusal to turn their house into an animal shelter. But he had seen that Hotaru was right and so he set up this pet shop. He had the alternate job, though, of being a teacher. But Luca had decided on being a relief teacher, helping teachers who had come down with the flu to teach their lessons. He liked teaching, Luca had told Hotaru, but he could not bear to separate from the animals.

Hotaru found Luca in the adjourning shop that was selling whistles that could imitate any animals' call. He was chatting amiably with the store owner, the kittens resting on his lap as he stroked their fur gently.

"Luca," Hotaru called softly, not wanting to disturb the kittens. He glanced up at her call and nodded to her before he excused himself. A moment later, he joined her outside the shop where Hotaru was looking at the night sky.

"How was your day?" Luca asked her as they headed back to the Elementary division where they had an apartment.

"I had a great time threatening the government officials not to take us lightly." Hotaru replied happily, reminded of the terrified faces they had made when she pulled out the huge box of blackmail she had gathered.

Luca laughed at her joyous reaction. "Well," he chuckled, sobering slightly. "If it made your day, I suppose I can't scold you for that. And how's… Mikan?"

"Doing well." Hotaru nibbled her lip in worry. "I'm worried, Luca. Mikan is acting normal… she never has, ever since then…"

"Natsume wouldn't talk to me about her," Luca told her, understanding what she meant. "I think he knows, but he's either playing along or he doesn't approve. Mikan and Natsume are both hard to read. I can't tell whether they really mean it or not, sometimes."

"I wish we could go back to those days…" Hotaru sighed. "Mikan didn't have to worry about this, back then. Sometimes it feels as if she's putting up a façade. But I don't understand why she would do so."

"She has her own reasons," Luca hurried to reassure her. Even though Mikan had stopped talking to him, Luca's trust in her never wavered. He believed in her, something that Hotaru doubted she could do. Mikan had always been the one who needed her help, even when she became a principal. But all of the sudden, she started to grow up, to manage her responsibilities on her own. The sudden growth had caught Hotaru off-guard. With Mikan all grown-up, she was at a loss—what could she do to help Mikan now?

"Hotaru?"

Hotaru stared, surprised to meet this particular person…

"It's been five years, hasn't it…"


End file.
